Boeing Unveils 737 Max Software Fixes (cnbc.com)

hcs_$reboot shares a report from CNBC: Boeing previewed its software fix, cockpit alerts and additional pilot training for its 737 Max planes on Wednesday, saying the changes improve the safety of the aircraft which has been involved in two deadly crashes since October. By the end of this week, Boeing plans to send the software updates and plan for enhanced pilot training to the FAA for certification approval. After the FAA approves the fix, Boeing said it will send the software update to customers. Among the notable changes to the MAX flight controls:

• The plane's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, automated flight control system, will now receive data from both "angle of attack" sensors, instead of just one.
• If those disagree by more than 5.5 degrees, the MCAS system will be disabled and will not push the nose of the plane lower.
• Boeing will be adding an indicator to the flight control display so pilots are aware of when the angle of attack sensors disagree.
• There will also be enhanced training required for all 737 pilots so they are more fully aware of how the MCAS system works and how to disable it if they encounter an issue.

Comments

Re:Look at all the Boeing Apopogists

[bobbied]

Nothing is wrong with the aircraft beyond the MCAS system's design and human factors aspect of how it works in a specific failure mode. There is no need to send these aircraft to the scrap yard, yet...

Arguably the pilots flying the two ill fated flights where not up to par and better training could have saved them, what I see happened is the lack of training ran headlong into a human factors issue of the MCAS design. The failed system confuses pilots, the human factors part of the design sucked badly enough to cause them to crash their aircraft, even though it was fully flyable had they known what to do and popped out a single breaker. Where this is BAD, it's also very fixable, both though pilot training and modifications of the software.

To me, apart from the senseless deaths, what scares me the most is how such a situation can exist where the processes should be in place to avoid stuff like this. Where else has this process failed? When will we find the next dangerous problem? THAT is what would keep me up at night. The MAX 8 will be one of the safest planes in the sky after this design review is done and the software gets updated. I'm worried about what else is waiting to bite us, because flying is dangerous business, even when you do it all right, people are going to die sometimes.